2024 Tesla Model 3 Performance: 0-60 in 2.9 seconds!

all right so I reviewed the new Tesla

Model 3 refresh facelift Highland

whatever people were calling it not that

long ago add a lot of pretty good things

to say about it I think it's a great car

and I think probably the most important

thing that I said about that car was it

felt like a mini model S like it's got

all this Improvement and refinement and

the screen in the back and new features

and layout and stuff feels like a mini

Tesla Model S right great but what does

the model S also have it's got the Plaid

at the top of the range the performance

version and so when we got this refresh

a lot of people were wondering well okay

what about the model 3

Performance and well you've probably

seen the title already so you know

already I'm here with the Tesla Model 3

Performance but I wanted to bring up the

model S because I had that plaid for a

long time and a lot of you guys are

remember there's really not much of a

difference between the model S plaid and

the regular Model S all they really did

is just make it faster they added the

triple Motors and obviously there's a

lot of development and hard work and

Engineering that goes into that the

carbon sleeved Motors the triple motor

setup all of that but it was really it

was the same brakes same chassis same

seats it was just the same car but

faster and so probably the biggest

complaint that performance car

enthusiasts could leverage over Tesla

actually it's not the biggest complaint

but one of the biggest complaints is

that it's too similar between the super

high-end performance version and the

regular version they're almost the same

car so I bring that up to say that this

Tesla Model 3 Performance is not just a

mini model S and faster than the regular

model 3 but they've actually done some

things in addition to just making it

faster that I think make it a more

complete car and aesthetically you can

see some telltale signs of the model 3

Performance too so here's a look at the

model 3 Performance refresh so I'm out

here in sunny California shooting this

which is why it probably looks a little

different but shout out to this

California weather Jesus it's really

nice no geese though you got crows

instead uh but okay let's start from the

front of the model 3 Performance because

this is the first place you'll see this

splitter is a little bigger the

headlights look just a little bit more

angular if you follow the LEDs and

there's uh this slot right here which is

functional just a little bit more of an

aggressive looking front end but maybe

not the easiest tell if it's pulling up

behind you probably from the side the

easiest tell is the wheels so this is a

new wheel design these are staggered

20-in wheels with this new apparently

these are removable Arrow caps I'm going

to try to remove them just to make sure

but 235 width in the front and 275 width

in the back these are P0 and uh Tesla

has been working with plli to

specifically engineer a better P0 for

this car but it is a 20in setup all the

way around and I do think that looks

like a sportier wheel looks really good

to me you can see underneath these red

brakes and these are also upgraded

brakes so they're upgraded brake pads

that should give you better stopping

power I wouldn't be shocked if people

started making third party wheels that

look just like this for the regular

model 3 but I think for now that's a

pretty good Telltale sign coming down

the side it's a pretty similar

silhouette but then you get to the back

and oh we got a little more of a spoiler

here with some angles to it this is a

carbon fiber spoiler that is looking

just a little bit more aggressive and

will of course also balance the overall

downforce on the car and that's actually

functional and down here is a little bit

better angle on the new rear splitter so

there is Arrow bits around this car

carbon fiber pieces around this car and

just a little bit of a different visual

to the whole thing a little more

aggressive looking you know I got a

chance to while I'm out here talk to

some of the engineers and people who

have worked on this car and you know

there are new dampers and things that

are a little bit stiffer but not super

harsh all these things are to give this

car more of a sporty feel without being

too firm I mean it's a GT car it's an

everyday car this is still people's

daily drivers they're just opting for a

little bit more of a special performance

version and so that continues to the

inside but just in general I think the

headline figures that are going to get

people's attention is okay I'm paying

for the performance version how much

faster is it really we'll get to driving

in a second but the numbers on paper are

about 510 horsepower 0 to 60 in 2.9

seconds and a top speed of 163 mph and

they haven't told me the price yet but

they're saying that the version of the

car that I'm testing will be under

$60,000 so under 60 grand for a sub 3se

second 0 to 60 car that does 163 mph on

these tires feel like that's still in a

pretty good spot and more importantly

than just the numbers is these are Peak

numbers but across the entire torque

band across all speeds it is more

responsive and more powerful than before

that's mainly due to a new rear drive

unit so the front motor is the same as

the outgoing performance model 3 but the

rear motor is where you're getting a lot

of the new power so torque distribution

power distribution is a little more

biased from the rear you get more

overall power from that rear motor and

this thing is going to be hurdling you

down the road at performance speeds

obviously now the nice thing about all

that is even though it is a new rear

motor it's the same exact size as the

previous rear motor so you still have

all the

same can you not uh you still have all

the same space in the back behind these

rear seats you have the sub trunk space

which is where they gave me a vehicle

cover so if I park it somewhere I can

cover it up because these are fancy uh

super topset Vehicles right now I think

you might have noticed this little badge

back here it's not a plaid badge okay

even though it looks just like a plaid

badge that's your your ludicrous speed

or actually it's just called insane

speed inside the car so that is the new

performance looking badge they're saving

plaid for specifically like the carbon

sleeved rotors triple motor setups

that's why the cybertruck's not plaid

even though it's triple motor is not the

carbon sleeved rotors so it's just a

really really fast dual motor car but it

continues on the inside so jumping in

here you wouldn't be shocked if I said

the interior is again very similar CU a

lot of things about this we really liked

but there's one really annoying thing

okay that I'll get to but you can see

now there's a little bit more of a

sporty trim so this is a little carbon

fiber Dash right above the air vents

which are the same as usual the same

extremely minimal and simple in I setup

from model 3 of the last couple weeks

you've got the wireless chargers here a

little bit of space down there you can

cover this up for your cup holders a

little more space this glove box is a

little sleeker now it is magnetically

closing so it's this little slim pouch

and just slaps CL that is a satisfying

magnet right there I'll do it again not

a lot of room

but shout out to the magnets but hey

look new seats and these are actually

meaningfully different sporty seats

these seats are nice they have way more

bolstering around my torso and around my

legs so you kind of you feel it when you

get in over the sides so there's more

support if you're Kang and carving

you'll feel that support and then of

course there's this little badge right

here again that's kind of nice imagine

if Model S had like a special slightly

better seat instead of just a regular

seat that is a nice touch that little

insert right there and then these

headrests up here it's a nice tall seat

it's pretty soft I like these seats this

is a nice upgrade to the regular model 3

seat this some other little things that

I've noticed these are aluminum pedals

down here now which is nice the I was

playing with the heating and ventilation

of the seats the front seats are

ventilated and they the ventilation gets

like right up to your neck like all the

way up your back which is actually

really nice as well and and then the one

really annoying thing you remember how I

was kind of happy and like praising that

Tesla finally realized that we hated the

touch buttons on the steering wheel and

went to physically clicky buttons for

some reason this car that I'm driving

has gone back

to like these capacitive touch areas

instead of being actually clicky buttons

why we've been over this this is not

what we want we we got the actual clicky

buttons that we liked and now you're

going backwards to these capacitive

buttons not the move I don't know why

they did this it's obviously not a horn

on the steering wheel anymore which is

good

but backwards on the steering wheel

buttons guys I don't know why they did

that I do love this Alcantara in the

dash and this nice little contour line

here in the doors right underneath the

LED lighting really overall basically

the exact same rear seat so if I pop in

here you remember the Mini model S

comments it's it's going to be the same

you still got this screen back here you

got left and right heated seats but no

heated middle and behind my 63 driving

position it's it's model 3 sized you

know you'd be okay back here but in

general if you're considering in getting

a model 3 Performance you're probably

specifically the most curious about how

it drives

so let's get into how it drives now look

I'm not going to pretend to be Top Gear

right now I've only actually had a day

with the car along with everybody else

and it's early but what I have noticed

in my driving around these Canyon roads

and these fun streets is three main

things one yeah it's it's faster it is

zippier and it's not just that it's

higher Peak torque and Peak power it's

like 30% % more Peak power but

throughout the whole range from low

speeds yeah it launches gets off the

line quicker and all the way up to

highway speeds you're passing power it's

really really quick which is great

that's pretty obvious two handling is

better so I talked about the improved

dampers and the better bigger brakes and

a whole bunch of other things about this

car but it's actually landed at the same

mass as the outgoing model 3 Performance

so all that improved Hardware but also a

whole bunch of weight reduction to end

up at the same mass and you can feel

that like it does still handle really

nimbly model 3 has always been Nimble

but this is even better with obviously

the the settings you can change in the

car for steering and it's a it's a good

handling EV coming in at like 1,800

something kilogram but last but not

least is uh track mode so if you get a

model 3 Performance you will be getting

track mode in your software where other

model 3s don't and track mode looks a

little something like this you you hit

this icon right here you go into

Dynamics and then you hit customize and

here's your track mode settings there's

actually a couple presets they're

considering I don't know if these will

all stay and make it to the final car

but this is the new UI for track mode so

you can dial in over or under steer or

keep it neutral you can add regen up to

100% or just go all the way down to just

friction braks if you want stability

assist and of course post- Drive Cooling

and saving your dash cam but yeah

there's a bunch of other you can add a

bunch of other profiles if you want so

if you want to customize your own that's

locked in for your settings you can do

that there's a race preset which has

minimal stability assist and there's a

drift preset which turns that all the

way off and maximizes over steer makes

sense sport demo mayor may not be here

but once you don't turn on track mode

dial it in you got all your temperatures

here brake motor PSI all that fun stuff

and you're good to go and that's because

there are a surprising number of model 3

Performance owners who are going to take

their cars to the track I always get

tagged by them I see them all the time

and so this is the new version of that

car you get track mode built in all the

hardware that I showed you guys is

included so my day one Impressions I

think are pretty good it's funny because

I call this the Mini model S and again

all the aesthetic improvements that come

with it all the nvh improvements that

come with it the build quality stuff

they've been working on it's good but

the is it worth it question is funny

because Model S plaid has depreciated so

much since it came out isn't it like 80

grand now or something for a Model S

plaid so you'd want to specifically get

a smaller car then okay yes this is the

one to do it with but there's no track

pack with carbon ceramic brakes or

anything like that I don't know I'm just

thinking of other 2.9 second cars and

this is right in that range and I think

this is a fun car even if you're still

in the this is soulless Camp I get it

there's no noise but this is a fun car

so that's my first impression anyway let

me know what you think of model 3

Performance and until the next one catch

you guys later peace